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Why Must ID Security Be So Hard?

TWO and a half years ago, someone managed to swipe just enough of my personal data to create a fake debit card that was linked to my checking account. Through a series of shopping sprees — nicely detailed in my online account statement — the thief charged about $1,700 before I noticed, called the bank and stopped the crime.

The damage I suffered was mainly in the form of stress, as the bank reimbursed the funds. But I have been waiting and hoping for a device or a system (a Department of Homeland Financial Security?) that would stop identity theft cold.

So when I heard that as of Nov. 1, the credit bureaus were finally offering what is known as a security freeze to consumers nationwide, I was thrilled.

Basically, a security freeze puts your credit into a kind of lockdown. Even if identity thieves obtained all your personal data, right down to your Social Security number and the name of your first pet, they could not open any new accounts in your name. You could thaw the freeze for your own needs, by using a private PIN code.

Sounds so simple, you say, why hadn’t anyone thought of it before? Well, they had. Over the last couple of years, in fits and starts, 39 states have passed freeze laws, requiring the credit bureaus to offer this protection to their residents, usually for a small fee. But it meant that people had to find out whether they lived in a state with such a law, and what the specifics of that law were.

That the three main credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — have made security freezes available throughout the country voluntarily is a small gesture for them, but potentially a great benefit to the rest of us, said Jeannine Kenney, senior policy analyst for Consumers Union, one of many groups that have lobbied for such a measure.

Ms. Kenney estimates that a third of the approximately 10 million cases of identity theft each year result in new-account fraud — opening a credit card or taking out a loan in the victim’s name — a crime that the victim may not find out about for years. “New-account fraud takes the longest amount of time to detect, and it is the most costly and difficult to resolve,” Ms. Kenney said. A freeze is the surest way to prevent that.

That is the good news. But it is all downhill from there, as I discovered when I hopped to my computer and went to the Consumers Union identity theft Web site for information on how to freeze everything I could — and had to download an eight-page PDF file that explained how the security freeze worked in my state.

WHY take all these steps? Because even with the nationwide provision in place from the bureaus, the freeze law in your state might be cheaper or more convenient. The credit bureaus charge $10 to place or lift a freeze, unless you can prove that you have been the victim of identity theft, in which case the service is free.

But folks who live in Indiana, thanks to its stronger state law, do not pay a dime to place or lift a security freeze; people in Montana pay $3. Those of us in New York pay $5 to each of the three bureaus to place or lift a freeze.

And while New Yorkers have to request a freeze by certified or overnight mail, residents of Minnesota and North Dakota can do so by phone, Ms. Kenney said.

While these details are a headache — and bear in mind that I am skipping over many other caveats, asterisks and loopholes — what is infuriating is that the bureaus have the technology to streamline this process across the board, and make it easy and affordable for all.

As Ms. Kenney pointed out, it is possible to get a credit check in minutes when you apply for a store card at the checkout counter, for example. Thus it should be possible to place or lift a security freeze reasonably quickly, over the phone or by Internet — without the burden of sending letters by pony express.